


Ebott Falls, by Alex Fox

by PassionateAboutPonies



Category: Gravity Falls, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous-Gender Frisk, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Frisk's Pronouns are They/Them, Gen, but there's no in-story explanation, don't worry i'll lampshade that later, so feel free to have frisk be any gender you want as you read
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-08 11:11:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6852313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PassionateAboutPonies/pseuds/PassionateAboutPonies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twins Dipper and Mabel Pines are sent to the small town of Ebott Falls, Oregon to spend the summer with their great-uncle Stan. But instead of the boring months of routine that Dipper expects, they are thrown headfirst into mystery and adventure. Along with their new friend Frisk, they must try to unravel the secrets of Ebott Falls, and the strange journal they discovered full of implausible entries and cryptic clues. But even with the help of their friends monster and human alike, including the skeleton brothers Sans and Papyrus and Stan's human employees Wendy and Soos, there's no guarantee all three will survive the summer in one piece. In this world of dangerous creatures and fantastic conspiracies, those closest to you may hold all the answers, but are they what they seem? Remember-In Ebott Falls, there is no one you can trust. ((This is the story of Gravity Falls if Mt. Ebott was right next to the town, causing "Gravity Falls" to be "Ebott Falls" and have a monster population, whist the Undertale cast gets weaved into the story. I have big plans, and best-case scenario I'm doing all 40 episodes of the series. This will certainly be interesting, because when a butterfly flaps its wings...who knows what might happen?))</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tourist Trapped: Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I didn't have enough room in the summary to say a couple things, so I hope everyone reads this. Firstly, episodes are several chapters long, and I publish episodes in their entirety. I also spell/grammar check the hell out of them, so mistakes should be few and far between. Those two things combined also means that updates could be anywhere from a week to a month apart, but I'll do my utmost best to make every part of the story worth the wait. Oh! And my editor is Souless-Zocario on DeviantArt. He doesn't think he deserves credit, but honestly this story wouldn't be half as good as it is without him. Give him some love if you get the chance!

    A golf cart smashed through a sign with three children screaming and holding on for dear life inside.  It swerved all over the place, fleeing from some kind of terror.  The girl sitting shotgun glanced behind them, past another kid sitting in the back.  Her eyes widened, “It’s getting closer!” she yelled.  Sunlight glinted off her braces, and she tugged on the hem of her sweater in terror.

    The boy in the driver’s seat weaved the cart left and right as the thing chasing them almost managed to grab the whole vehicle.  The child in the back shrieked as the cart hit a pile of rocks making it launch into the air for a few seconds, their chin-length hair flying up as well.  The boy driving somehow managed to keep control even as he floored the gas pedal.

    The creature picked up a tree and threw it into their path.  The boy swerved to try to avoid it as they all screamed at the top of their lungs.

     _“Oh, hello there!  My name is Chara, and this is all terribly confusing isn’t it.  Let me help with that.  The boy driving is Dipper Pines, and the girl next to him about to puke is his sister Mabel.  The kid in the back hanging on for dear life is their new friend, Frisk.  You’re probably wondering what they’re doing in a golf cart fleeing from some creature of unknown terror.  Don’t worry; I’ll get to that part.”_

***  *  ***

[ **Ebott Falls Theme** ](https://soundcloud.com/jeffrey-watkins-3/gravitytale)

~~((The song is not made specifically for the story, but I think it fits.  It'll be here every episode.))~~

***  *  ***

_“Let’s go back a bit.  Nine months previously, a mountain opened, and shook up the world.  Monsters, real, actual, monsters, emerged into the sunlight.  And, believe it or not, they came in peace!  Of course, seeing this on the news Dipper was thrilled.  The supernatural had always excited him.  The monsters came in dozens of different shapes and sizes, and they could perform magic!  Like, legit hocus-pocus magic, I am not kidding you here.  Dipper nearly passed out from excitement upon hearing that part._

_“But they didn't come alone.  They were accompanied by a human child, 10 years old.  This kid had fallen down into the mountain, befriended the monsters, and destroyed the barrier that had kept the monsters imprisoned for, well, the monsters didn't exactly make that information public.  Actually, there were a lot of things they didn't make public.  No news on why, how, or_ _when the barrier went up.  Nothing on how the barrier broke.  And the government was very quiet on where exactly the mountain the monsters emerged from was located._

_“Six months after the monsters’ release, the Supreme Court ruled that technically, all monsters were legally born American citizens, and therefore eligible for all rights under the Constitution, as well as subject to all laws, able to serve on juries, pay taxes... you get the idea.  The King and Queen of Monsters, who I should mention weren’t a couple (it’s complicated, I’m not getting into that right now), the child who emerged with them (the Queen had custody of them), and a small portion of the monster population settled down in a location that wasn’t mentioned to the press, while the rest spread out through America, and the world._

_“Fast forward three months, and it wasn’t out of the question to see a monster crossing the street, eating at a diner, or swimming at the local public pool.  Nor was it beyond the realm of possibility to see monster and human children mingling in schools and on playgrounds.  Then again, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.  There were, of course, monster hate groups.  But nothing too terrible had happened yet, mainly just protests and the rare threatening of a monster-owned establishment, so everything was mostly okay so far._

_“The stuff you wanna know about really began when Dipper and Mabel’s parents decided they could use some fresh air.  So they sent them up north to a town called ‘Ebott Falls, Oregon’ to stay at their great-uncle's place in the woods, under the shadow of Mt. Ebott.  Yes, I know it kinda sounds like a fairytale.  And no, I’m not making any of this up._

_“Mabel tended to look on the bright side of things, but Dipper was having a hard time getting used to the new surroundings.  And then there was their great-uncle Stan, who had transformed his house into a tourist trap he called ‘The Mystery Shack’.  (Personally, I think the real mystery is why anyone actually came.)  And of course, the two kids had to work there.  Dipper figured it was going to be the same boring routine all summer.  That is until... well, why don’t I let you see for yourself?”_

***  *  ***

    “I’m just saying Mabel, you don’t need to flirt with every boy you see”, said Dipper, walking away from his sister towards an exhibit that he hadn’t noticed before.  “Huh, Stan must’ve put this up last night;” he remarked, “I don’t remember it being there yesterday.”  It was a tall skeleton in a pair of light brown shorts and a simple orange t-shirt.  It also wore a red scarf that had probably seen better days.  “The dimensions aren’t quite right though;” he observed, “lots of these bones are the wrong size.  In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that this wasn’t a human skeleton at all.”

    He poked the model in the leg.  And it _moved_.  The skeleton turned its head and looked down to see Dipper standing there, before breaking into a smile and yelling, “HELLO SMALL HUMAN MALE!”

    Dipper, of course, wasn’t expecting this, and did the only sensible thing he could think of.  Scream at the top of his lungs.  “Aaaaaaah!”

    The skeleton then replied in kind, “AAAAAAAH!”

    “Aaaaaaah!”

    “AAAAAAAH!”

    “Aaaaaaah!”

    “IS THIS A SCREAMING CONTEST?  OR IS THIS HOW YOU GREET NEW FRIENDS AROUND HERE?”

    Dipper felt a bit faint as well as confused, so all he was able to say was, “I don’t... what?”

    Before the skeleton could repeat the question, Mabel poked her head around a display of some stitched together chicken-snake that Dipper didn't know the name of, “You okay there Dip-Dop?” she asked, “I heard screaming, did you stub your toe again?”

    The skeleton turned around and spotted Mabel.  “OH, HELLO SMALL HUMAN FEMALE!  WE WERE HAVING A SCREAMING CONTEST, OR GREETING EACH OTHER; WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN?”

    Mabel’s jaw dropped, and Dipper could have sworn she had stars in her eyes, “Oh.  My.  Gosh.”  She ran over to the two of them, “You’re a skeleton; that’s so cool; how are you a skeleton; I love your scarf; I’ve never given a skeleton a makeover before; that would be _so awesome_ ; do you want to hang out later; we could be really good friends, friends with a skeleton oh my-”  Dipper clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her rambling; what if she made it mad?

    But the skeleton seemed to get even happier after he heard this, “THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO BE YOUR FRIEND SMALL HUMAN FEMALE; WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO THE FRIENDSHIP SCREAMING LIKE ME AND THE SMALL HUMAN MALE HAVE?”

    “I love screaming!” said Mabel, pulling her brother’s hand off of her mouth.  “But first, Dipper!” she turned to her brother, “You became friends with a _skeleton_ without even introducing yourself?  Or coming to find _me_?”

    “No, no, Mabel, we’re not...”, began Dipper.

    Mabel cut him off, “Sorry my brother’s being a dumbo Mr. Skeleton; I’m Mabel Pines, and this is my brother Dipper!”  She pulled Dipper to her side to show him off better while sticking out her other hand.

    Her small hand almost disappeared into the skeleton’s large one as he shook it vigorously.  “I AM THRILLED TO MEET YOU AND YOUR BROTHER MABEL PINES.  I AM, AS YOU HEARD, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!  BUT SINCE WE ARE NOW FRIENDS I WILL LET YOU LEAVE OFF ‘THE GREAT’ AND JUST CALL ME PAPYRUS.  AND DO NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR BROTHER BEING A ‘DUMBO’; MY BROTHER WOULD ALSO BE TOO LAZY TO COME FIND ME AFTER MAKING A NEW FRIEND.  I, HOWEVER, AM NOT!”  Up until then he had continued shaking Mabel’s arm up and down throughout saying this, not that she minded.  Once he let go, he turned to yell across the store, “SANS!  SANS!  GET YOUR LAZY BONES OVER HERE AND LOOK!  I’VE MADE FRIENDS WITH TWO TINY HUMANS!  THEY EVEN LOOK ALIKE!”

    As Dipper stood there trying to figure out what in the world was going on, another, much shorter, skeleton came into view from behind the snake-chicken.  He had a lazy grin on his face, and wore a light blue t-shirt with black jogging shorts.  But what Dipper found most interesting, was that he was holding hands with a vaguely familiar looking human child, probably a year or two younger than Dipper himself.  “what’s goin’ on paps?” he asked, his voice much quieter and deeper than his brother’s.

    Papyrus picked up Mabel and held her about a foot in front of the smaller skeleton, who was apparently named “Sans”.  “LOOK!  I’VE ONLY BEEN HERE FOR FIVE MINUTES AND I’VE ALREADY MADE TWO NEW FRIENDS!  AND THEY AREN’T EVEN MONSTERS; THEY’RE HUMANS, LIKE FRISK!  AND THEY ARE ALMOST FRISK-SIZED TOO!”

    Mabel was having the time of her life, while Dipper now had another reason to be nervous, “Hey, Papyrus... right?  Could you, maybe, put my sister down?”

    Sans’s eyes (“They were skeletons; how did the two of them have eyes?” wondered Dipper) moved over to Dipper, and he seemed to examine the boy for a moment, before telling him, “don’t worry bud; paps wouldn’t hurt a fly; he doesn’t have a bad _bone_ in his body.”

    The reaction from Papyrus was almost instantaneous, “OH MY GOD SANS, YOU AREN’T EVEN TRYING TO COME UP WITH ANYTHING NEW TODAY, WHICH SOMEHOW MAKES YOUR JOKES WORSE, EVEN THOUGH I’VE HEARD THEM BEFORE.”  He did, however, very gently return Mabel to the ground in front of Sans, as Dipper hurried to her side.  He noticed as he did that Sans was less than a foot taller than the two of them.

    Mabel immediately stuck out her hand to Sans as quickly as she had to Papyrus, “Hiya!  I’m Mabel Pines, and this is my bro Dipper.  Did you know your brother’s really cool?”

    Sans’s face lit up, even though his lazy grin remained the same, “i think i might get to like you mabel.”  Then, a fart noise sounded, and Mabel let go of Sans’s hand in surprise.  Chuckling, Sans turned his hand palm up to show- a whoopee cushion?

    Mabel was stunned; she looked back and forth between Sans and the whoopee cushion, her mouth hanging open.  Papyrus gave a dramatic sigh, “SANS, I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE THAT AT HOME, AND NOW LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE; YOU’VE BROKEN ONE OF OUR NEW FRIENDS!”

    A mischievous glint appeared in Sans’s eyes, “i guess you could say: ‘what _fart_ of no don’t you understand?’”  Papyrus gave a sound of exasperation, while Mabel howled with laughter.  Sans regained the look he had when he’d shaken Mabel’s hand, “yeah, i’ll definitely like you kid.”

    Suddenly, something clicked with Dipper.  “Of course!” he remarked, slapping a hand to his forehead.  “You guys are monsters; how did I not figure that out before?”

    Sans turned to look at Dipper again.  This time his scrutiny didn't feel half as friendly as the previous one.  “that’s ah, not a problem for you, is it buddy?”

    Dipper quickly stammered out a reply, “No, no!  There’s nothing wrong with it; I just never expected to meet a monster so soon; let alone here, in the middle of nowhere!  I’m a huge supporter of monster rights; I followed all the court cases extensively.  And you are _magical beings_ ; your existence is more astonishing than anything I could imagine and-”

    “whoa there”, Sans cut him off, “‘yes’ or ‘no’ would have been fine.  sorry bud, had a couple of nasty comments directed at us on the way over here; guess my bones are just a bit _rattled_.”

    "SANS!"

    The kid holding Sans’s hand (who Dipper had forgotten about for a moment), giggled at the brothers' antics for a moment, before introducing themself to the twins.  “It’s nice to be reminded that most people are more open-minded.  I’m Frisk by the way; Sans and Pappy are my honorary uncles.”  Frisk dropped Sans’s hand to offer theirs to Dipper, who grasped it and shook.

    As Frisk offered their hand to Mabel in turn, Dipper realized why they looked so familiar.  “Oh my gosh, feeling stupid for the fourth or fifth time in the last five minutes; you’re the kid who freed the monsters, right?  I recognize you from the courtroom sketches.”  No camera had been allowed to catch video or picture of the monster king, queen, or Frisk, at least no cameras whose owners gave its images to the press, so all anyone knew of what they looked like came from descriptions and said sketches.

    Sans chuckled, “you really did follow those cases extensively, huh?”

    Dipper suddenly felt embarrassed again.  “You think that’s weird don’t you?  Gosh this meeting has gone really bad hasn’t it?”

    “nah, dipper was it?  you did pretty well for your first time meeting a whole new sentient species, much better than a lot of other people we’ve met.”

    “So, what are you guys doing at our great-uncle’s shack of mystery?” asked Mabel, unwilling to let Dipper keep two out of their now _three_ new friends to himself.

    “THAT’S EASY, I WANTED TO SEE THIS ‘MYSTERY SHACK’, WHICH THE SIGNS FOR ARE ALL OVER TOWN.”

    “You know there’s more to it than that Uncle Pappy”, said Frisk.  “Your great-uncle owns this place huh?”

    “Yep!  We’re staying with him for the summer!” replied Mabel cheerfully.

    “Huh, cool”, said Frisk.  “So, you saw Mt. Ebott on your way in, big, tall mountain, hard to miss, yeah?”  Dipper and Mabel nodded.  “Well, that’s the mountain the monsters were trapped under.”  Dipper’s face lit up in delight; this day was becoming spectacularly exciting very fast.

    Sans on the other hand, looked a bit worried, “er, frisk, are you sure you should be telling these guys about this; that’s a bit hush-hush, you know?”

    Frisk looked at their shorter uncle and shrugged, “If they’re gonna be hanging out with us, they’re gonna hear things; might as well tell them the gist of what’s going on.”  Sans thought about this for a moment then nodded, signaling for Frisk to continue.  “So, when monsters got all of their rights, me, my Mom, a bunch of my friends, and some other monsters got permission from the government to come back to this town, the nearest one to the mountain, and build a settlement here, away from the public eye.”

    Sans decided to fill in the rest of the story, “paps has been wanting to come here for a while, so me and frisk decided to tag along.  also, i noticed the ‘help wanted’ sign in the window; know anything about that?”

    Mabel racked her brain, “Uh, yeah, I think Grunkle Stan said he wanted to hire some extra hands, for the busy summer season, you know?  You guys looking for a job?”

    “OF COURSE MABEL PINES; HUMANS HOLD JOBS ALL THE TIME, SO IN THE INTEREST OF FITTING IN GETTING ONE WOULD BENEFIT US GREATLY”, said Papyrus cheerfully.

    “plus, having money without needing to worry about gold trading rates is nice as well”, Sans winked at them.

    “Fair enough”, said Dipper, shrugging; he remembered that the monsters used gold as currency during their imprisonment, “Grunkle Stan’s over there, if you wanna go talk to him.”  He pointed at an older man wearing a fez, glasses, and an eyepatch that Dipper knew he didn't need, who had just entered the store from another room.

    “heh, thanks kiddo.  frisk, can you stay here a moment while paps and I talk to the owner?”

    Frisk nodded, “Yep, you guys do what ya gotta do, I’ll be here.”  Sans followed his brother over to where Stan was standing.  Dipper watched the conversation as Mabel chatted with Frisk, figuring he knew how this would go.  Stan put 2+2 together faster than he had about the monsters being, well, monsters, and Dipper was pretty certain that he practically had dollar signs for eyes as he considered the benefit of having actual magical beings working at a place like the Mystery Shack.

    “Dipper!” yelled Stan after a few minutes of them talking, “Can you put up these signs in the spooky part of the forest while I get the Mystery Shack’s newest employees trained?”

    Dipper groaned, “Why me?  And those woods creep me out; I always feel like I’m being watched...”

    Stan walked over and put the signs in Dipper’s hands anyway, “Don’t be ridiculous; there’s nothing out there.  Now hurry, I might need your help getting the new guys oriented around here.”

    “ _I’m_ still not fully oriented around here...”, muttered Dipper.

    “Hey, I could go with you if you’d like”, offered Frisk, who had overheard Stan and Dipper’s conversation while they were talking with Mabel.

    “You sure?” asked Dipper, surprised by the offer.

    “Yeah, really.  I live with _monsters_ ; you think some spooky forest is going to faze me?”

    Dipper shrugged, “Well, alright then; I wouldn’t mind the company.”

    Frisk cupped their hands around their mouth and shouted, “Uncle Sans!  I’m going out with Dipper to help hang signs!  I’ll be back soon, ok?”

    Sans gave the thumbs up from the other side of the room and waved them off.  “have fun kiddo, okay?”

    Frisk nodded and followed Dipper out the door.  “It’s this way”, said Dipper, “let’s go”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna ask me stuff or whatever, here's my Tumblr: http://passionateaboutponies.tumblr.com/ I haven't used it in a while, but I guess it's time for it to come out of retirement! XD


	2. Tourist Trapped: Part 2

    “I’m just saying, nobody ever believes me”, said Dipper, continuing a conversation with Frisk while straightening his hat.  The trees blew eerily as Frisk sat on the ground, handing Dipper nails as he needed them.  “Thanks”, he said, as he received another.  As he hammered it into a tree, he switched topics.  “So you’re 10, right?”

    “Eleven”, corrected Frisk, “I’ve had a birthday since the monsters went free.”

    “Huh”, said Dipper, as he hung another sign on the nail, “you act a lot older than that though.”

    Frisk froze for a moment, but quickly tried to play it off as nothing.  “Well, I’ve seen a lot of stuff.  I freed an entire civilization, remember?  Plus _you_ don’t really act 12”, they replied, handing him one more.

    “Touché”, said Dipper, as he raised the hammer to hit the nail, “but I’m almost 13.  Mabel and I are twins; our birthday’s in three months, on the last day of summer.”  As he brought the hammer down on the nail, not only did it fail to penetrate the tree, but a sound like hollow metal reverberated through the woods.

    “I know I was running under mountains and in courtrooms and embassies for a while”, remarked Frisk, “but I don’t think trees are supposed to make that sound...”  They stood up and walked over to the tree in question, before rapping on it with their knuckles.  It made the same noise as before, and the two children shared a confused glance.  Dipper felt around the trunk until he felt an edge, which he grabbed and pulled on.  A door in the tree swung open to reveal a contraption that vaguely resembled a radio.

    “What in the world is this thing?” muttered Dipper.  He began to play with a couple of switches on the top.

    “Erm, Dipper, should you really be fiddling with it?” asked Frisk worriedly, “We don’t know what it is, or who it belonged to...”  Before Dipper could answer, he pulled a switch towards himself, and a mechanical door in the ground opened behind them.

    The two children turned and Dipper walked towards the newly opened hole, “What in the world?” he muttered to himself.  Frisk hurried to catch up.  The two of them kneeled next to the hole as Dipper reached in and pulled out its only contents, a dusty old book.

    Dipper blew on the cover to clear off the dust, causing Frisk to have a coughing fit.  “Sorry”, he apologized.  Dipper brushed the rest off with his hand, to reveal a gold six-fingered hand on the front cover, with the number “3” written on it.  Frisk had a feeling that maybe the two of them shouldn’t be looking at it, but dang were they curious.  Eventually, curiosity won over, as it had many times before, and they scooted over next to Dipper as he opened the front cover.

    The name of the owner had been obscured.  Whether this was purposeful or due to years of wear and tear, Frisk couldn’t tell.  Dipper picked up some sort of lens attached to the book by a string and examined it, before placing it aside and turning the page.  Frisk leaned closer so they could read the first entry, marked “June 18”.  “‘It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since I began studying the strange and wonderful secrets of Ebott Falls, Oregon...’  So, this guy researched the barrier?  Monsters?” assumed Frisk.  Dipper turned the page again, to reveal two more entries, one page about “Floating Eyeballs”, the other about “Giant Vampire Bats”.  “Whoa, okay never mind; those look like no monster _I’ve_ ever seen, and I’m sure I’ve seen them all.”

    “So, there are monsters of a different species than the ones you know?” pondered Dipper, as he turned the page again.  This one was a double-page spread about gnomes.  Frisk noticed that whoever wrote the journal (because it had become clear that that’s what it was) had yet to discover a weakness of the gnomes.  They could sympathize there.  

    “I guess”, Frisk replied.  “All of the monsters I know are fully sentient, even the ones who don’t look it.  But looking at these entries, many of the creatures in this book have animal or semi-intelligence.”  Dipper turned a few more pages (including one with an entry about a creature that looked just like Stan’s chicken-snake; apparently it was called a “cockatrice”), and eventually they came to an entry that caught Dipper’s eye.

    “Unfortunately my suspicions have been confirmed; I’m being watched”, read Dipper, “I must hide this book before _he_ finds it.  Remember- In Ebott Falls, there is no one you can trust.”

    “No one you can trust?” echoed Frisk as Dipper stood up and closed the book.

    “Hello!!!” yelled Mabel, popping out from behind a log and spooking the pair, making them both give very un-adultlike screams.  “Whatcha two reading?  Dipper, are you trying to get Frisk interested in some nerd thing?”

    “I-it’s nothing!” said Dipper immediately, the book’s warning still in his ears as he concealed the book behind his back.  Frisk looked at him in surprise.

    Mabel laughed, “What, are you guys actually not going to show me?”

    Dipper immediately reconsidered, “Uh, I think we should all go somewhere private before we talk about this...”

    Now _that_ Frisk could agree with.

***  *  ***

    “This is amazing!” said Dipper, pacing back and forth on the floor holding the journal.  The twins had invited Frisk into the Shack’s TV room to talk.  Papyrus and Sans were busy chatting with the other employees, Wendy and Soos.  “Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Ebott Falls has this secret _dark side_ , far more than sentient monsters under a mountain!”

    “Whoa, _shut up!_ ” said Mabel as Dipper opened up the journal to show her.

    Frisk grinned, they loved Mabel’s enthusiasm, “While many of them are non-sentient according to this, there are many others that actually hold a human/monster level of intelligence.”  Frisk was _really_ excited about this; they had whole new species of monsters to befriend; maybe they would get along with his non-human friends; maybe they could even join Ebott Falls’s new monster community!

    “And get this”, added Dipper, “after a certain point, the pages just stop, like the guy who was writing it _mysteriously disappeared_.”

    Just then, the doorbell rang.  “We’re you guys expecting someone?” asked Frisk, turning to look at the door.  

    “Well, time to spill the beans!” said Mabel, proceeding to poke a can that read “beans”, tipping it over.  Frisk thought Sans would be very proud of that joke.  “This girl’s got a date.  Whoot whoot!”

    Before Frisk could congratulate Mabel, Dipper spoke up, tucking the journal into his jacket as he did so.  “Hang on a second; let me get this straight; in the half hour we were gone...you _already_ found a boyfriend?  Who dates someone they only just met?”  Frisk tried to look as if they _certainly_ never did anything remotely resembling that.

    “What can I say?” said Mabel, “I guess I’m just irresistible!”  The doorbell rang twice more.  “Oh!  I almost forgot they were here; I’m coming!” she yelled, running for the door.

    At that moment, Papyrus and Sans walked into the room.  “hey kiddo, have fun with the other two kiddos?”

    “I had a lots of fun Uncle Sans!” replied Frisk happily, “And you won’t believe this, we-”  Dipper quickly gave Frisk a look, and the book’s warning replayed in their head, _“Remember- In Ebott Falls, there is no one you can trust.”_  “Uh, we’re about to meet Mabel’s new boyfriend!  She seems to have found one in the half hour we were gone, crazy right?”  Frisk didn't know why they didn't tell their uncles about the journal, but there was something about it that made a person want to keep it to themself, hide it from others, and discover its secrets alone...

    “WOWIE!  I HAD NO IDEA MABEL WAS NEARLY AS GOOD AT DATING AS YOU ARE FRISK!”  Dipper raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Frisk, who gave him a “Please, don’t ask” look back.  “DO YOU THINK SHE’D LIKE TO BORROW MY BOOK ON DATING?”

    “i think the girl’ll be fine paps.  at least, without the book”, he turned to Dipper, “half an hour huh?  i think i want to meet this guy for myself.”  Something Frisk could only recognize as suspicion crossed Sans’s face, even though he still kept his perpetual grin.

    “Hey guys, say hello to my new boyfriend!” Mabel brought in a guy who was a head taller than her, wearing a black hoodie that was definitely the worse for wear.

    “Sup”, he said.  Sans _really_ looked suspicious now; he stared at the guy for a second, before reacting with surprise.  He quickly regained his composure and scooted closer to Frisk and Dipper as casually as he could.

    “Hey...”, replied Dipper, not noticing Sans’s rapid emotion change.

    “HELLO!” shouted Papyrus.  Mabel’s new boyfriend looked seriously stunned to see the skeleton brothers there.  However, he tried to act as if it never fazed him, even as Sans continued to eye him with an expression that refused to give anything away.

    “We met at the cemetery”, continued Mabel, as unaware of any tension in the room as her brother, “he’s _really_ deep.”

    “so uh, what’s your name bud?” asked Sans, cutting off anything else Mabel was about to say.  Frisk could tell Sans knew something was up, and tried to figure out what it was for themself.

    “Uh...Normal...man!” he said, looking more than a tad uncomfortable.

    “He means ‘Norman’”, clarified Mabel, seemingly unfazed by the fact that her new boyfriend was having trouble pronouncing his own name.

    Sans wasn’t the only one who was suspicious, “Are you... _bleeding_ Norman?” asked Dipper.  Sure enough, when Frisk looked there was a red substance of some sort dripping off Norman’s face.

    Norman was silent for a moment, before replying, “It’s jam.”

    “I _love_ jam!” said Mabel, “Would you look at this!  Don’t we go together so amazingly well!?”

    Norman seemed quite eager to get away from the rapidly growing number of people who were staring at him suspiciously, curiously, or slightly threateningly.  “So, Mabel...you wanna go...hold hands or...whatever?”

    Mabel looked very pleased at this turn of events, “Oh!  Oh my goodness!” she giggled.  “Don’t wait up!” she said, before running off with Norman stumbling behind her.  Literally stumbling, to Frisk’s surprise Norman seemed incapable of walking in a straight line without crashing into something.

    “frisk, you wouldn’t happen to want to stay over here longer with your new friends, would you?”  Sans gave Frisk a look that clearly meant he wanted them to say yes.

    “Um, sure Uncle Sans, I would...love that!  Why don’t you, me, and Dipper head over here so we can chat about...what time to come pick me up!”

    Sans nodded and followed the two of them into a corner.  Sans bent down to the children’s level and lowered his voice to a whisper, “kids, look i-”, he glanced between Frisk and Dipper, who both had varying degrees of confusion on their faces.  He sighed, “keep an eye on ‘norman’, okay?  he’s...he’s not who you think he is.”  Frisk looked at Sans with great surprise.  “just, be careful; don’t let mabel get hurt, okay?  i think i’m already fond of that kid.”  The two of them nodded, with different amounts of understanding showing on their faces.  Sans straightened up and spoke in a louder voice, “so, we’ll step outside and give your mother a call to check that she's fine with this before we go frisk, and someone will be back to get you at five.  if you need anything, _anything_ , you call me right away, you got that kiddo?”  Frisk nodded at him in understanding.

    “GOODBYE FRISK; GOODBYE DIPPER PINES!” yelled Papyrus as the skeleton brothers exited through the door Norman had entered through.

    “Bye Uncle Pappy!” Frisk waved at them as the door shut.  “So... where do we start?” they asked Dipper, turning to face him.

   “I guess...the only place we can start”, said Dipper, pulling the journal from his jacket.  “Come on; we can look at this in the attic; most likely no one will come up there.”

***  *  ***

    The two children laid on the floor next to each other, flipping through the journal’s pages.  Suddenly, they came across an entry that looked _very_ relevant.  “There!” said Frisk, pointing at a picture.

    Dipper read the entry next to the image, “Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for... _teenagers_!”

   Frisk read the rest of the entry. “Beware Ebott Falls’s nefarious...zombies!?” they screeched, “Norman is a _zombie_!?”

    “Wait a second Frisk”, said Dipper, “your uncles are _skeletons_ ; why are you so scared of the idea that Norman might be a zombie?”

    “Sans and Pappy aren’t _actual_ undead” they replied, “they are a certain race of monster that are _born_ that way.”

    “Wait, I thought monsters were a _species_ ; now they’re a _race_?” Dipper was getting really confused.

    “No, no, look, okay how do I explain this, uh...”, Frisk wracked their brain “‘Monsters’ as a whole are their own species, like how humans are a species, black bears are a species, or...the ‘giant vampire bats’ in the journal are probably a species; you following me?”

    “Yeah, go on...”, Dipper was very curious as to where this was going.

    “Good, okay.  Well, humans have different races, different types of people, but even though one human might look completely different from another, they’re still the same species.  There are different races of monster too, Froggits, Whimsums, Skeletons; the list goes on.  The physical differences between the races are much greater than that of humans, but again, they’re the same species.  Unlike humans where the parents’ races usually combine, when interracial monster couples have kids, the children have a 50-50 chance of being either parent’s race.  Eye color and other characteristics can still carry over from the parent the child doesn’t share a race with when applicable. Of course this is only if the monster parents don’t _also_ have ancestors of a different race, which makes it a _bit_ more complicated but I won’t get into that right now.”

    “Oh wow, that’s...that’s really cool actually...”, Dipper sat down by the window and glanced out.  His eyes widened as he saw Norman advancing on Mabel.  “Oh no!  Mabel, look out!”

    Frisk hurried to the window to see what Dipper was looking at.  “I can’t believe we already forgot about Norman!  Mabel!  Mabel!” Frisk rapped on the glass with their knuckles while Dipper waved his arms, both trying to get Mabel’s attention through the window.  Frisk covered their eyes as Norman grasped Mabel by the shoulders and...Frisk realized after a moment there was a distinct lack of screaming.  Peeking through their fingers, they saw a delighted Mabel with a daisy chain around her neck.  “Oh.  Huh.  I guess we overreacted?”

    Dipper began to pace in front of the window, “I don’t know... Is my sister really dating a zombie?  Or are we _actually_ just being paranoid?”

    “It’s a dilemma to be sure”, said another voice in the room.  The two of them yelped in surprise, and turned to see one of the Shack’s two human employees.

    “So much for nobody coming up here”, said Frisk.

    “Soos...when did you get here?” asked Dipper.

    “A couple of minutes ago, you two were so deep in conversation that you didn't even see me come in.  I couldn’t help but overhear what you guys were saying”, Soos replied as he continued to screw in a new lightbulb.

    “Okay then...you’ve seen Mabel’s boyfriend; he’s gotta be a zombie, right?” asked Dipper, desperate for some evidence that he wasn’t going nuts.

    “Hmm...”, said Soos, making a face in concentration, “How many brains did you two see the guy eat?”

    “None...”, the kids chorused, slightly embarrassed about missing such an important detail.

    “Listen kids, I believe you”, assured Soos, finishing with the lightbulb and starting to climb down the ladder, “I’m always noticing weird things in this town.  Like the mailman?  Pretty sure he’s a werewolf.”

    “Cool!” said Frisk, wondering if they could meet the guy later.

    “Frisk, one supernatural issue at a time please...”, Dipper reminded them.

    “Oh, yeah!  Right...what were you saying Mr. Soos?”

    “Just ‘Soos’ is fine.  What I’m saying is you guys gotta get some _evidence_ , otherwise people are gonna think you two are a pair of major league cuckoo clocks.”

    “You’re right Soos”, admitted Dipper.

    “Soos!  The portable toilets are clogged again!” yelled Stan from downstairs.

    “I am needed elsewhere”, announced Soos, as he backed dramatically out of the room.

    “Well, come on Frisk; my sister could be in trouble”, said Dipper, tucking the journal back into his jacket.

    “Time to collect some evidence”, agreed Frisk, following Dipper down the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to head to my Tumblr with any questions! http://passionateaboutponies.tumblr.com/


	3. Tourist Trapped: Part 3

  “Well, _that_ could have gone better”, said Frisk, watching as Mabel and Norman left for a date.

    “Tell me about it”, said Dipper, looking through the video evidence they had collected.  (It wasn’t stalking, it was legitimate research!)  The two of them had failed to convince Mabel that Norman was a zombie (it probably didn't help that Dipper accidentally opened the book to the gnomes page instead of the zombie page, no matter how funny Frisk found it), Mabel had told Dipper that she wouldn’t let her date get ruined by “another” one of his conspiracy theories, she had advised Frisk to not let Dipper get them caught up in that stuff, and shut them both out of Dipper and Mabel’s new room.  “I guess Soos was right, we really don’t have any evidence...”

    “Can I see that for a second?” asked Frisk.  Dipper shrugged and handed them the camera.  They rewinded the tape a bit and watched as Norman fell over playing Frisbee, fell over trying to walk through a diner, fell into a grave while trying to run, fell over playing hopscotch, and put his hand back on after it fell off.  Frisk did a double-take; _put his hand back on after it fell off!?_  “Dipper, Dipper!  Look at this!”  Frisk rewinded the tape to the beginning of that particular video and handed it back to him.

    Dipper watched the video and his eyes widened in shock, “Oh my gosh, we were right!  This is proof that Norman’s a zombie!  We-we have to tell Stan!”

    Frisk followed Dipper as he ran out the door, over to a group of tourists who Stan was giving a tour to.  “Mr. Pines, Mr. Pines!” shouted Frisk, waving their arms above their head.

    “Grunkle Stan!” said Dipper, trying to push through the crowd.  But neither of them could get Stan’s attention, no matter how hard they tried.  Then Dipper heard a vehicle, and looked over to see the Shack’s other human employee Wendy pulling up in a golf cart.  “Frisk, this way!  Wendy!  Wendy!” Dipper ran to meet Wendy by the golf cart, as Frisk jogged to catch up.  “We need to borrow the golf cart so we can save my sister from a zombie!”

    Frisk was quite surprised when Wendy handed Dipper the keys without asking any questions.  “Try not to hit any pedestrians you two!” she said, before walking away.

    “Seriously?” asked Frisk.

    Dipper shrugged, “I guess she’s not responsible for what _we_ do to Stan’s golf cart.”  He climbed into the driver’s seat, “Now get in, hurry!”  Frisk took the shotgun seat and the two of them sped in reverse.

    “I don’t think I like this!” said Frisk, as Dipper turned and sped off forwards.

    “Sorry Frisk, but we have to go fast if we’re gonna make it to Mabel in time!” Dipper made a sharp corner and Frisk gave a squeal of terror.

***  *  ***

    A few minutes later, and Frisk wasn’t having any more fun, “Dipper, in the name of all that is sane, _slow down_!”

    Before Dipper could reply, Mabel’s scream sounded through the trees, “Get off of me, I said get _off_!  Help!”

    “Mabel, hold on!  We’re coming!” he yelled back, as he swerved in the direction of the noise.  Frisk clung to one of the poles that held up the cart’s roof for dear life.

    As they got closer to where the sound came from, Frisk could see something moving up ahead.  “There!” they shouted, pointing with one hand while continuing to hold tight to the pole with the other.

    Dipper looked where Frisk was pointing; that was definitely Mabel up ahead, but...what were those other things?  Where was Norman?  Dipper parked the cart and ran over to where he could see Mabel struggling with a bunch of tiny...people?  “Let go of me!” shouted Mabel, managing to knock a couple of the creatures away.

    “What the heck is going on here!?” asked Dipper, not too unreasonably.

    “I second that motion”, added Frisk as they caught up with Dipper.

    “Dipper!  Frisk!” shouted Mabel, looking relieved that help had arrived.  “Norman turned out to be a bunch of _gnomes_!  And they’re total _jerks_!”  Mabel punched one in the face as it tried to grab her sweater, making it miss and grab her hair instead.  “Ow, ow, not the hair, that hurts!”

    “Gnomes?” said Frisk, as Dipper pulled out the journal and flipped through the pages.  “Man were we far off”, they remarked.

    “Here it is”, said Dipper, finding the two-page spread about gnomes from earlier.  “‘Gnomes: Little men of the Ebott Falls forest’”, he read, “Weaknesses: Unknown.”

    “Oh _come on_!” said Mabel.  Frisk and Dipper looked up from the journal to see Mabel tied to the ground like she was Lemuel Gulliver.

    “Hey!   _Hey!_ ” yelled Dipper as he strode up to the gnomes.  “Let go of my sister!”

    “Yeah!” added Frisk, trying to look as threatening as an 11-year-old could.

    “Oh...uh, hey there, um...”, said the gnome who appeared to be the leader.  “Ya know, this... this is all just a big misunderstanding.  You see, your sister’s not in any danger!  She’s just marrying all 1,000 of us and becoming our gnome queen for all eternity!”

    “Ewwww!” said Frisk, “You guys are _gross_!”

    “They’re _buttfaces_!” agreed Mabel, before a gnome covered her mouth with its hand.

    “You guys give her back right now or else!” threatened Dipper, the gnomes starting to seriously grate on his nerves.

    “You think you children can stop us?” asked the gnome.  “You have no idea what we are capable of.  The gnomes are a powerful species!  Do not trifle with the...wait, what?”  The gnome’s speech came to a screeching halt as he saw Frisk lead Mabel over to the golf cart.  They’d snuck around behind while the gnome was on his soapbox and freed her.

    “Yep!  Bye!” said Dipper, running after the other two to the cart.

    “They’re getting away with our queen!” yelled the leader gnome, “Stop them!”

    Dipper climbed back into the driver’s seat while Mabel took the spot next to him.  Frisk reluctantly took the area in the back that would normally hold golf clubs and other things.  “Seatbelts!” reminded Dipper, as he prepared to turn the cart around.

    “What seatbelt!?” asked Frisk, as Mabel buckled hers up.  “I don’t even have a proper seat!”

    “Just hold on!” said Dipper, as he sped back the way they came.

    “This is 10 times worse than it was getting here!” yelled Frisk, clinging to the seats in front of them.

    “Dipper, go faster, before they come after us!” prompted Mabel.

    “How about we _don’t_?” suggested Frisk.

    “You guys, relax, did you see their little legs?  There’s no way the suckers could catch anything”, laughed Dipper.

    Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and Dipper slammed on the brakes.  “What in the world is _that_?” asked Frisk.  The three of them turned around... _to see a giant gnome made up of all the other gnomes coming over the hill towards them!_  “Okay, okay, I’ve changed my mind, just this once, _floor it Dipper!_ ”

    Dipper didn't need to be told twice.  He swiveled around to face the front and stomped on the gas pedal, causing the cart to surge forwards.  But the giant gnome managed to keep up with them.  It launched normal gnomes at their cart, and one landed on Frisk’s head, making them shriek.  “I’ll get it!” yelled Mabel, taking a swipe at the gnome.  It dodged her blow and jumped onto Dipper’s head instead. This time Mabel’s aim was dead on, and she knocked the gnome clear out of the cart, albeit along with Dipper’s hat.

   The scene played out like before, the cart just barely managing to dodge the tree thrown into its path.  “Head back to the Shack, I have an idea!” said Frisk, pulling out their cellphone.  While Frisk made a call to who knows who, Dipper just barely managed to keep the cart upright until they pulled onto the Shack’s property, where the cart tipped over onto its side, upsetting the children and making Frisk’s phone fly off into the bushes.  “I left a message, b-but I don’t know if they’re coming”, they attempted to explain as Mabel helped them off the ground.

    The giant gnome continued to advance on them, as the three children were backed into a wall.  Dipper stood in front of his sister and his friend, arms wide as if to shield them.  Frisk gripped Dipper’s left arm and tried to hide behind him, letting out a little squeak of fear.  Sure, they had confronted terrible dangers in the underground, but never something so _big_.  “It’s the end of the line kids!” announced the lead gnome, sitting at the apex of the giant gnome’s hat.  “Mabel, marry us before we do something someone is going to regret!”

    “There’s gotta be a way out of this!” said Dipper, looking everywhere for a solution to their predicament.  Suddenly, a wall of bones sprung out of the ground between the children and the giant gnome, as Sans appeared out of thin air next to them.

    “Sans!” yelled Frisk, looking very relieved to see him.

    “i got your call, are you kids okay?” he asked, his eyes roaming over them looking for injuries.

    “We’re fine, just a few scrapes and bruises”, said Frisk.  “What about the others?”

    “on their way, they should be here any second now; i couldn’t’ve gotten here as quickly if i brought them through a shortcut.”

    “Is that- _magic_?” asked Dipper, staring in amazement at the wall of bones.

   “sure is kid, and if i’m hearing correctly, you’re about to see even more of it.”

    Suddenly, a glowing blue spear shot through the giant gnome’s shoulder, scattering the gnomes that made up the left arm all over the ground.  The giant gnome dodged several more magic spears as a blue humanoid fish monster wearing an eyepatch charged out of the forest, pulling another spear out of thin air as she yelled a battle cry. “NGHAAAAAAHHH!”  Right behind her was Papyrus, who launched several flying bones at the gnome’s other arm, managing to scatter the gnomes that made it up as well.

    As the two of them continued launching projectiles at the gnomes, two more figures burst out of the forest, both tall furry humanoid monsters vaguely resembling goats, one male, and one female.  The male goat-monster pulled a trident out of thin air and charged at the gnome, while Sans called out to one of the new arrivals, “toriel!  toriel!  over here!”

    The female goat-monster turned at the sound of his voice and hurried over, scaring away any gnomes that tried to get near her with fire she conjured from her large hands.  She looked very relieved as she reached them, scooping Frisk into one of her arms, “ _Frisk!_  Thank goodness, are you-”

    “they’re fine tori, don’t worry”, assured Sans, “i need you to get the kids here to safety, i’m gonna help the others with some pest control.  heh.”

    Despite the tense situation, Toriel smiled at the joke, before putting back on a straight face and nodding.  “Of course Sans, they’ll be safe with me.  I’ll join you shortly.”

    “thanks”, was all Sans said before disappearing and reappearing in the midst of the battle, joining his brother’s side while launching more bones at the gnome, which was trying to piece its arms back together while dodging projectiles from multiple sides.

    Without a moment’s pause, Toriel scooped the Pines twins up in her empty arm as if they weighed nothing, and jogged away from the battle, easily carrying the three of them.

    “Dipper, she’s _so soft_!” announced Mabel, burying her face into Toriel’s warm fur with wide delighted eyes.

    Toriel smiled at this, “Thank you my child; that is not a compliment I often receive.  What miserable creatures those things are, torturing such poor, innocent youths...”  She set the three of them behind a bush, a good distance away from the battle, but close enough that they could still see what was going on.  “Do not worry my children; we will take care of them; stay here where it is safe.”  Toriel then turned around and ran back to where the battle raged on.

    “Be careful Mom!” Frisk called after her.

    “She’s your mom?” puzzled Dipper, “Wait; then that would mean she’s the-!”

    “Dipper, shut up and _watch_!” said Mabel, staring through the leaves at the battle.  Dipper pushed some branches aside to make the area Mabel was looking through bigger, as Frisk peered between the two of them.

    Dipper had never seen anything so awe-inspiring; bones and spears flew left and right, knocking off pieces of the gnome when it couldn’t move fast enough to avoid them.  Toriel and the male goat-monster (who Dipper now recognized as the King of Monsters) chased any small gnomes that fell off back into the forest with conjured fire and swings of a trident respectively.  Finally, the fish-monster managed to land a hit right in the middle of the giant gnome’s chest, and the whole thing fell apart.  “Retreat!” called the lead gnome, as all the bruised, scraped, and a few first-degree burned gnomes scampered off into the forest as fast as their tiny legs could carry them.

    “And _stay_ out!” yelled the fish-monster, chasing the last few stragglers back into the forest, and throwing a few spears after them for good measure.

    “NYEH HEH HEH!  I BET THOSE TINY BEARDED CREATURES WILL THINK _THREE_ TIMES BEFORE DARING TO MESS WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS AGAIN!”

    “i guess they didn't _gnome_ what hit them.”

    “OH MY GOD SANS!”

    “Wow!  You guys were _awesome_!” shouted Mabel, running out from behind the bush to join the monsters.

    “I can’t believe I just got to see _magic_!  Actual _magic_!” said Dipper, walking after his sister in a daze, “I-I didn't, I can’t, oh wow...I’m a little dizzy...”  Frisk ran over and supported Dipper by the arm.  “No, no, I’m fine, Frisk.  I just gotta...sit down...”  Dipper managed to walk to the group before plopping down between Sans and Papyrus to attempt to fully process what he'd just witnessed.

    “Hey, loser!” yelled the fish-monster, striding over to Frisk, before picking them up and giving them a vigorous noogie.

    “Auntie Undyne, nooooooooo!” shouted Frisk through their laughter, “Not in front of my new friends!”

    “Think of it as payback for _not telling me before you confront an army of tiny people!_  I mean really, why in the world would you do something so obviously dangerous without bringing your friend who loves the obviously dangerous?”

    “It was an emergency Auntie Undyne, honest!” said Frisk, finally managing to extricate themself from Undyne’s grip.  “We didn't have time to come get you!  And besides, we thought Mabel’s new boyfriend was a _zombie_ , not a bunch of gnomes!”

    “A _zombie_?  My child, where in the world would you get an idea like that?” asked Toriel, quite surprised at the statement.

    “Oh!  We found this really cool journal Mom, and it had all sorts of stuff in it about monsters that weren’t really monsters and-”

    “ _Frisk!_ ” Dipper cut them off, finally feeling well enough to stand back up, “It was a _secret_ journal, why are you telling everyone?”

    “Dipper, I’m not going to lie to my _Mom_ ”, replied Frisk, crossing their arms in front of their chest.  “Besides, maybe they’ll recognize some of the creatures in it, and can tell us more about where the journal might have come from.”  They held out their hands for the journal.

    “Fine...”, said Dipper, taking the journal out of their jacket and placing it in Frisk’s waiting arms.  Frisk, in turn, handed it to Toriel, who stared at it in curiosity.

    Opening the book she flipped through a few pages, her eyes going wide, “My child, where on Earth did you manage to find such a book?”

    “In the ground”, explained Frisk, “Dipper and I found a hidden door, and the journal was the only thing inside.”

    “Well, I must say, I have never seen any monsters like these”, remarked Toriel.  “Asgore, have you-?”

    The monster king (Dipper remembered that “Asgore” was the King’s actual name) took the book from Toriel’s hands and flipped through it himself.  It looked tiny in his large furry hands.  “I must agree with Tori;” Toriel’s expression soured slightly, “I have never seen creatures like this in all my years.  In fact, I highly doubt that we are of the same species as any of these creatures.”

    “Seriously!?” shouted Undyne, “Let me see!”

    “ME TOO!  I WANT TO LOOK AT THE BOOK OF STRANGE NOT-MONSTER MONSTERS TOO!” yelled Papyrus, trying unsuccessfully to see over Asgore’s shoulder.

    Asgore quietly handed the journal to Undyne, who flipped through it with glee, while Papyrus pointed out any creatures he found especially cool.  “Unfortunately”, began Asgore, “I can offer no insight as to the book’s origins.”

    “But you do believe that they’re real, right?” asked Dipper hopefully.

    Sans chuckled, “kid, we just fought a whole army of tiny creatures that none of us have ever seen before; i think we’d be crazy to _not_ believe you.”

    “Uncle Sans, I was wondering;” said Frisk, “why were you so secretive about how Norman wasn’t who he said he was?”

    “not so loudly kid!” said Sans, glancing behind him to make sure Papyrus was still engrossed in the journal.  He sighed, “i didn't want paps to worry.  plus, i didn't want to let the other kids know that monsters can see-”, Sans stopped himself.

    Dipper waited expectantly, “Can see what?”

    Sans gave another sigh, before calling over to the monster rulers, “asgore!  tori!  i think we and the kids have a lot to talk about; since we can be pretty sure they’re monster-friendly, think we could head over to monstertown for a bit more privacy?”

    Tori smiled, “I think that can be arranged.  I happen to have some butterscotch-cinnamon pie in the oven, and goodness knows they deserve a treat after how brave they’ve been today.”

    “Yes!” said Frisk, pumping the air with their fist, “Pie _and_ you guys get to see my home?  Best idea ever!”

    “It is settled then”, said Asgore with a small smile.  “Children, if you would follow us?”  The group started to move into the woods, Papyrus and Undyne still pouring over the journal.

    “‘Monstertown’?” questioned Mabel to Frisk as they walked.

    Frisk giggled, “Asgore isn’t the best at naming things, that’s just what he decided to call our part of Ebott Falls.”

    “I didn't think this day could get any better!” said Dipper, practically radiating excitement, “Meeting monsters, finding the journal, fighting gnomes, watching an epic offensive magic display, meeting the King and Queen of Monsters, and now _this_!?”  Frisk decided to walk a little closer to Dipper in case he started feeling faint again.  “Best. Day. _Ever!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions? Ask me whatever at my Tumblr: http://passionateaboutponies.tumblr.com/
> 
> Please do not read into Dipper's protective instincts protecting Frisk as well as Mabel when he tried to shield them from the giant gnome. Writing that scene in no way made me want to ship Dipper X Frisk. Nope. Nothing vaguely resembling Fripper in this story. Dammit I gave it a name, I'm doomed!


	4. Chapter 4

    “Monstertown” was truly a sight to behold, thought Dipper.  It was simply amazing what you could do in three months when you had magic on your side.  And of course the U.S. government helping you out.  Each monster family in Monstertown had created what must have been their dream home, because every house was different, and seemed to reflect the occupants’ style.  There were small castles complete with spires next door to cozy looking log cabins.  A giant doghouse occupied by an extremely extended dog family was right across from a deep man/monster-made lake that housed a giant talking onion.  (Yes, you read that correctly.)

    The population of Monstertown was just as diverse as the houses they lived in, and Frisk took great joy in introducing the twins to all of their friends.  As Frisk grabbed their hands and ran ahead, the two learned that Frisk had a _lot_ of friends.  As the excited 11-year-old dragged the pair from one house to the next in a whirlwind of fantastic creatures of every shape and size, there were only a few monsters whose names and faces stuck together in Dipper’s mind.  One was a ghost-monster named Napstablook.  Dipper remembered them because when Frisk knocked on their door, they just floated right through it instead of opening it, which gave him quite the start.

    Another one was a yellow monster child about Frisk’s age who they called “MK”.  The two greeted one another by hip checking each other at the same time and then bumping heads.  Dipper figured that this was their version of a secret handshake, as MK didn't appear to have any arms.  Undyne also gave MK a quick noogie, before reminding them to bring their helmet to training on Tuesday.

    “‘Training’?”, questioned Dipper once they’d say goodbye to MK.

    “Oh, MK absolutely _idolizes_ Auntie Undyne, so she started giving them ‘combat’ lessons.”

    “Frisk, they don’t have any arms!”

    Frisk smiled, “Yeah, but they can give a _seriously_ mean headbutt when they want to.”

    The last person Dipper found particularly memorable was a female monster who looked like a short yellow dinosaur, who was sitting in a chair rapidly typing on her phone when the group finally entered Frisk’s house.  “Alphys, we’re back!” shouted Undyne as she walked in the door.

    Alphys jumped slightly in her seat, before pushing her glasses up her nose and turning to face the door.  “Oh!  W-welcome back sweetie, I didn't see you c-come in.”

    “She’s only stuttering because she was startled”, whispered Frisk to the twins.  “Aunt Alphys has been working really hard on speaking clearly and confidently.  She only slips up when she’s surprised or nervous, especially when meeting new people.  So...she may stutter a fair bit in the next few minutes”, they explained.

    Alphys then spotted the Pines, “W-who are the children?”

    “Frisk’s new friends”, explained Undyne.  “But babe, you gotta look at this cool book of theirs!”  Undyne ran over and sat next to her...girlfriend, Dipper supposed.  He had to admit they made an interesting pair.  Undyne plopped the book in Alphys’s lap, who curiously opened it with a scaly hand.

    Her eyes grew wide as she flipped through several creature entries, “T-these creatures, I-I’ve never-”

    “I know!” yelled Undyne excitedly, “Some of them look like they came straight out of an anime!”

    Alphys’s eyes brightened, “You’re right; look at this one; it looks just like that creature that attacked the main characters in...”  Dipper tuned out as the two continued to chat excitedly about the creatures in this or that anime, and how they compared to some of the creatures from the journal.  Papyrus joined their conversation after a moment and urged Undyne to show Alphys his favorite species in the journal.

    Sans chuckled, “come on, let’s leave them to it.”  He beckoned the children away from the trio pouring over the book on Alphys’s lap.

    “Frisk, would you like to show your friends your room?” asked Toriel, “We’ll be up in a bit.”

    “Great idea Mom!” said Frisk.  “It’s this way, c’mon guys!”  They ran up the stairs and turned right at the top.  Mabel and Dipper followed them up and entered the only room at the landing with an open door.  As they walked in they saw Frisk jumping up and down on a bed shaped like a blue race car.  “Isn’t it cool?” they asked.

    “It’s super bouncy!” said Mabel in delight.  She pulled off her shoes and climbed onto the bed in her socks, before joining Frisk in jumping up and down on the race car bed.

    Frisk laughed at Mabel joining in on their antics, “Uncle Pappy got it for me for my 11th birthday; it’s just like his, only smaller, and blue!”  They gave a big jump and landed on the bed in a sitting position, Mabel copying them a moment after.  “He made me birthday spaghetti too!”  They picked up a picture frame sitting on their bedside table and looked at it while swinging their legs.  “Mom, Asgore, Uncle Sans, Uncle Pappy, Auntie Undyne, Aunt Alphys, they’re the best family I could ask for.”  They turned the picture around to show Dipper; it was a group photo of the seven of them; it looked like it was taken at the aforementioned birthday party.  “My birthday was a few days after Monstertown was officially completed, so we had a lot to celebrate at that party.  I think it was just as much for them as it was for me, which was really cool.”  They set the picture back gently, “Honestly, I think falling down that hole was the best accident that ever happened to me.”

    Sans appeared outside the room and knocked on the open door, as Asgore and Toriel took the stairs, “hey kiddo, can i come in?”

    Frisk laughed, “ _Duh_ Uncle Sans, you can always come up here!”

    Sans chuckled to himself as he entered, “i guarantee you that answer will change in the next three years.”

    The two monsters of royalty entered behind Sans, Asgore having to duck his head slightly to avoid bumping his horns on the doorframe.  Toriel sat on a large chair near Frisk’s bed, which was probably made just for her, while Asgore stood behind her, paws on the back of the chair.  Toriel rolled her eyes slightly and sighed almost imperceptibly.  “Well children, I do believe that we have much to talk about”, said Asgore.

    “Perhaps we should start at the beginning”, suggested Toriel, “I remember Frisk saying that the gnomes were Mabel’s...boyfriend?”

    So the full story of the last day came out.  Mabel explained how she met “Norman” while Dipper and Frisk were gone; the two of them explained how they found the journal while hanging up signs in the forest, then described meeting Norman and how odd his behavior was.  “Even before Sans’s cryptic warning, Noman’s behavior was enough to make me seriously suspicious”, explained Dipper, “I suppose Sans telling us to watch Norman was the final piece of evidence that something was _definitely_ wrong.”  Dipper looked at Sans for a moment, hoping for some sort of explanation of his behavior in the Shack’s TV room, but when none was forthcoming, he continued the story.  

    He and Frisk worked together to describe their search through the journal for answers, and the (incorrect) conclusion they’d come to that Norman was a zombie, as well as their failed attempt to convince Mabel, the discovery of what they believed was conclusive evidence that Norman was a zombie, and their rush to Mabel’s rescue.  Frisk then described with great pride how they’d snuck around back and freed Mabel from the gnomes, and with a little less enthusiasm, the attempted escape in the golf cart.  Mabel finished up by describing the giant gnome’s pursuit and the cart’s crash, all the way up to Sans’s intervention.

    When they’d finished, the two tall monsters shared a glance, before Toriel spoke, “ _Well!_  That sounds like quite a lot of excitement, but I believe I am not alone in wondering how Sans knew that Norman was trouble.”  She turned to look at Sans, who looked a little sheepish.

    “well, i uh...peeked at his...you know...”

    Toriel sighed, “I should have known.  And Sans, _you_ should know that monsters can’t just go around looking at people’s souls whenever they want to, it’s just not polite.”

    “Hang on, did you just say _souls_!?” asked Dipper.

    “hey, in my defense tori, the guy wanted to date her after knowing her for less than half an hour, and i’m pretty sure that is just at strange by human standards as it is by monster standards.  i was just afraid that he would hurt mabel, so i did a quick check to see if he had any bad intentions swimming around on the surface.”

    “Can someone please explain to me what you guys are talking about?  What do you mean ‘souls’?”

    “Oh!” said Toriel, “Of course you don’t know.  Asgore could you-?”

    “Certainly”, replied Asgore.  “So, I believe that the word ‘soul’ does have a meaning to humans?”

    “Yeah, it does”, said Dipper, “it’s like, the essence of a person?  It’s only theoretical though-”

    “uh-uh”, said Sans, “every living animal that is more than a single-celled organism has some type of a soul, 100% true, no question about it.”

    “He is correct”, continued Asgore, “and different types of creatures have different types of souls.  I should say, different _colors_ of soul.  Non-sentient beasts have grey souls.  Monsters have white souls.  And humans have one of seven different colored souls.  Each color represents a different quality in a person.  If we want to, any monster can look and see a creature's soul, which reveals some basic information about them.”

    “yeah, well when i looked at norman, i saw _five_ souls”, Sans held up a bony finger as the King went to speak, “but that’s not the only weird thing.  the five souls?  they were _brown_.  yes, brown, a color i don’t believe any monster’s ever seen before.  boy, was i confused.  and there wasn’t much i could do without worrying paps or revealing that monsters could see souls.  so i warned frisk and dipper to watch out for mabel’s safety.  but because of me you kids got into huge danger; i should have done more.  if something had happened to one of you...” Sans sighed, “i’m sorry frisk, i guess i’m some uncle, huh?”

    Frisk slid off the bed and ran over to give Sans a hug, “Sans, you’re a great uncle!  You’re tied with Uncle Pappy for the best uncle ever!  You couldn’t have known any more than we did that Norman was a bunch of crazy gnomes!  Nothing _that_ bad happened, everyone’s fine, and when we did need help, you were the first one there!  None of this was your fault Sans, ok?”

    Sans looked surprised for a moment, then returned the hug, “heh, thanks kiddo.  i think i needed to hear that.”

    Toriel smiled as she watched the exchange.  “It seems we are finished here.  Would you children like to join me downstairs for that pie?  It is Frisk’s favorite flavor.”

    “Yes, yes, yes!”  Pie time!” Frisk let go of their uncle and ran down the stairs.

    Toriel chuckled, “Oh my, I better follow them; I haven’t even cut the pie yet, and I wouldn’t put it past Frisk to eat the whole thing!”  She hurried after Frisk, “Wait for us my child!”

    By the time Dipper and Mabel had gotten downstairs, Frisk was already sitting in Undyne’s lap, stuffing themself with pie and telling the story of the past day to their three remaining honorary relatives who hadn’t heard it, while Toriel gently admonished them to eat slower and not talk with their mouth full.  But instead of grabbing his own piece of pie, Dipper turned his attention to the monster king, “Excuse me, King Asgore?”

    Asgore smiled and put up a large hand, “Young man, there is no need to be so formal, ‘Mr. Dreemurr’ would be more than satisfactory.  Unless, you’d prefer to just call me Asgore?”

    “I think Mr. Dreemurr works for me”, said Dipper, watching his sister get herself a piece of the pie.  “What I wanted to ask is, can I have that journal back?  You see, we’re spending the whole summer here, and if there are more things out there as hostile as those gnomes, I’d feel much better if I was somewhat equipped to protect my sister and me.  And Frisk when they visit us, which after today will probably happen quite often.”

    Asgore nodded, “You make a good point Dipper, and I’d be glad to return the book to you.  I could not in good conscience leave you with no way to defend you or your friends and family from any threats unique to this area.”  He picked up the journal from a table where it had been set down and handed it back to Dipper, who tucked it back into his jacket.  Asgore chuckled, “Although, I do hope that the only creatures you will need it for will be much kinder than the gnomes we met this afternoon.”

    Dipper smiled, “Yeah, me too.  Thank you Mr. Dreemurr.”  The King of Monsters nodded at the boy and went to get himself a slice of the pie, as Toriel gave a small smirk that said she knew that would be Asgore’s next move.

    Mabel then joined her brother, holding her slice of pie and looking a little sheepish, “Hey, Dipper? I, um...I'm sorry for ignoring your advice. You really were just looking out for me.”

    “Oh, don’t worry about it Mabel, honestly I probably wouldn’t have believed myself either.”

    “Heh, yeah, this whole day has been pretty ridiculous.”  Mabel ate the last of her pie and put the plate on a nearby table, “You really gotta try some of Toriel’s pie, it’s so good!”

    Dipper smiled; leave it to Mabel to switch the topic from how insane the last day was to pie in less than two seconds.  “Sure Mabel, that sounds great.  But first, awkward sibling hug?”

    “Awkward sibling hug”, agreed Mabel.

    The two embraced, before patting each other on the backs, saying, “Pat, pat.”

    Mabel noticed that Frisk was trying to not look like they felt left out, “Hey, you, get over here!”

    “Whoo!” said Frisk, running over to join the hug.

    “SANS, I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO TRY THE ‘AWKWARD SIBLING HUG’”, said Papyrus.

    Sans started to slowly back away from his brother, “uh, actually paps, i think i’m-”  But Papyrus didn't give Sans a chance to deny him what was obviously an important human ritual, picking Sans up off the floor and giving him a tight hug.  “well...this certainly _is_ awkward, i’ll give it that much...”

    Frisk giggled at Sans’s predicament before turning to talk with Mabel.  Dipper pulled out the journal and a pen from his jacket.  Smiling, he opened it to the gnome pages, and wrote in his newly discovered information.  “Weakness:  Can’t dodge magic attacks well.”

    Suddenly, Mabel’s shout echoed throughout the house, **“What do you mean you’ve never had a sleepover before!?”**

    “Oh boy...”, said Dipper.  

*  *  *

    Dipper had to admit, Mabel was good at getting what she wanted from adults.  With a combination of puppy eyes, pleading, and guilting Stan with talk of how Frisk had never had a chance to attend a sleepover before, Mabel managed to have Frisk packed and over to the Shack by the time an hour had elapsed.  Sans had chuckled to himself, and said something about needing to “double check she wasn’t a red soul”.  Dipper mentally filed away a reminder to ask him what he meant later.

    Frisk was over the moon with excitement, which was probably one of the reasons Toriel had caved so quickly.  Although, she did end up doing most of the practical packing.  Frisk packed things like their favorite toys and clothes, while Toriel was left to locate such things as Frisk’s toothbrush and a pair of their PJ’s.  Frisk also had an endless supply of questions for Mabel about what you actually _did_ at a sleepover, which Mabel was only too happy to answer.

    After a frantic unpacking and change into their PJ’s, the trio of children sat down to play classic sleepover games.  Of course, Truth or Dare had to occur eventually.  “Mabel”, said Frisk, “pick, truth or dare?”

    “Dare!” declared Mabel bravely, getting up and standing in what she believed was a heroic pose, “I never back down from a challenge.”

    “Alright”, Frisk snickered, “then I dare you to... lick that goat that was wandering around here earlier!”

    “Okay!” said Mabel, running out of the room, “Gompers, come here!”

    Frisk looked shocked, “Mabel, no, I was kidding!”  They ran out of the room after her, “Mabel come back!”

    Dipper stood up and followed the other two out, “Oh no, not again!”

     _“Hiya!  It’s Chara, remember me?  Well, it seems this story is coming to a close.  Well, this part of it really.  Let me sum everything up.  From that day, Frisk, Dipper, and Mabel were really good friends.  Frisk came to the Shack with their uncles every day the brothers had work, and even sometimes by themself when the two didn't.  You see, there are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and one of them is escaping a giant gnome._

_“But, wait a second; I think you missed something very important.  No, no, not what the old man’s doing down behind that secret door.  You all know what’s going on there, otherwise why would you be here?  No, I’m talking about that other thing you missed.  Here, let me give you a different perspective of that scene when everyone was running around getting ready for Frisk’s first sleepover...”_

*  *  *

    The room where Frisk and their friends, old and new, had congregated to get everything set up was clearly visible from the windows.  One creature took full advantage of that fact as they spied on the group.  A yellow flower with a face in the center of its petals watched as monsters and human children ran every which way.  For a moment, an odd expression crossed its face, sorrow, jealousy, maybe even longing.  Whatever the expression was, it disappeared as fast as it came, and the flower retracted its stem and lowered itself to the ground, before vanishing into the soil with only a single glance back at the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the first part of what will hopefully be a long story! Remember, if you have any questions, ask them at my Tumblr: http://passionateaboutponies.tumblr.com/
> 
> Dang it, writing about Frisk and Mabel jumping on the bed together made me want to ship them as well, and yes, of course a name popped into me head! Dammit, now Fripper and Fabel are competing in my head, AND I have to try to keep them from affecting the story! Curse you shipper instincts!


End file.
